Wood panel

ABSTRACT

A wood panel is provided comprising: a composite wood component having upper and lower surface layers and a core layer; and a veneer component, having a thickness of about 1/64″ to about ¼″, attached to the upper surface layer of the wood composite.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wood can be used to construct almost any part of a home from the roofingand exterior walls to the floor and interior architectural elements aswell as basic domestic items like furniture and cabinets. However, inrecent years the cost of solid timber wood has increased dramatically asits supply shrinks due to the gradual depletion of old-growth and virginforests. Indeed, it is particularly expensive to manufacture solidhardwood furniture and architectural features from such material becausetypically less than half of harvested timber wood is converted tonatural solid wood lumber, the remainder being discarded as scrap.

Accordingly, because of both the cost of high-grade timber wood as wellas a heightened emphasis on conserving natural resources, wood-basedalternatives to natural solid wood lumber have been developed that makemore efficient use of harvested wood and reduce the amount of wooddiscarded as scrap. Plywood, particle board and oriented strand board(“OSB”) are examples of wood-based composite alternatives to naturalsolid wood lumber that have replaced natural solid wood lumber in manystructural applications in the last seventy-five years. These wood-basedcomposites not only use the available supply of timber wood moreefficiently, but they can also be formed from lower-grade wood species,and even from wood wastes.

These wood-based composite materials do offer a highly efficient way touse available wood material, however, because they typically consist ofsmall particles (particle board), wood strands (OSB), flat pieces oflow-grade wood species or some similar such material, products made fromthem do not have an attractive, grained appearance, but rather tend tohave unsatisfactory aesthetic finishes. This may make them unsuitablefor use in interior furnishings and for articles of furniture andcabinetry.

One approach to addressing this aesthetic drawback is to prepare aspecial wood composite material by placing decorative veneer layershaving a wood or wood grain appearance upon the top and bottom surfacesof an internal, or “core” composite wood material. These veneer sheetsare very thin, having a thickness of no greater than ⅛ inch, and aretypically made from a decorative wood material, such as oak.

However, while these veneer-covered wood composite materials do haveimproved aesthetic finishes, they can be somewhat difficult to prepareand manufacture. In particular is a common problem referred to as“telegraphing”, where due to the thinness of the veneer layer, thetexture of the underlying wood composite material presses through theveneer layer creating a non-uniform, uneven surface with numerousimperfections.

Several solutions have been proposed to eliminate surface telegraphing.One technique is to use an intermediate layer between the core layer(especially an oriented strand board core layer) and the veneers such asis described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,026. This intermediate layerprovides a smooth surface onto which the veneers may be laminated. Whilethis technique is often effective it also creates a five-ply productthat is considerably more expensive because of additional labor andmaterial costs than a three-ply product. Other investigators, such asshown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,743 have considered using a combination ofboth an intermediate layer and additional control over the surface. Butwhile this does adequately ameliorate surface telegraphing, it is evenmore time-intensive and costly than merely using an intermediate layerwithout further pretreatment.

Still another technique for preventing surface telegraphing is theapplication of a coating or putty to hide the texture or surfaceimperfections on the wood composite's surface, such as shown in U.S.Pat. No. 5,616,419. Unfortunately, this technique not only often failsto prevent telegraphing, it is also time consuming to distribute theglue across the surface of the wood composite material in sufficientconcentration and evenness to ensure that the surface telegraphing willbe absent.

Given the foregoing, there is a continuing need for an efficientlyconstructed wood composite material that has the excellent surfacefinish to be useful for applications where surface appearance isimportant such as interior domestic furnishings, furniture andcabinetry.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a wood panel comprising: a composite woodcomponent having upper and lower surface layers and a core layer; and aveneer component, having a thickness of about 1/64″ inch to about ¼″,attached to the upper surface layer of the wood composite.

The present invention also includes a process for preparing a wood panelcomprising the steps of: providing a composite wood component, the woodcomponent including an upper surface layer, the upper surface layerhaving an exterior face; providing a veneer component, having athickness of about 1/64″ inch to about ¼″; sanding the exterior face ofthe upper surface layer; applying an adhesive resin to the exterior faceof the upper surface layer to form a resin applied exterior face; andcontacting the veneer component to the resin applied exterior face toform a wood panel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

All parts, percentages and ratios used herein are expressed by weightunless otherwise specified. All documents cited herein are incorporatedby reference.

As used herein, “wood” is intended to mean a cellular structure, havingcell walls composed of cellulose and hemicellulose fibers bondedtogether by lignin polymer.

By “laminated”, it is meant material composed of layers and bondedtogether using resin binders.

By “wood composite material” or “wood composite component” it is meant acomposite material that comprises wood and one or more other additives,such as adhesives or waxes. Non-limiting examples of wood compositematerials include oriented strand board (“OSB”), structural compositelumber (“SCL”), waferboard, particle board, chipboard, medium-densityfiberboard, plywood, and boards that are a composite of strands and plyveneers. As used herein, “flakes”, “strands”, and “wafers” areconsidered equivalent to one another and are used interchangeably. Anon-exclusive description of wood composite materials may be found inthe Supplement Volume to the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of ChemicalTechnology, pp 765-810, 6^(th) Edition, which is hereby incorporated byreference.

The following describes preferred embodiments of the present invention,which provides a wood panel comprising a wood composite component and aveneer component. Because the composite material piece does not displaysurface telegraphing through the veneer component, it is particularlyuseful for constructing furniture and cabinetry where a wood-grainappearance is important but where the use of solid timber wood would beprohibitively expensive. While not intended to be limited by theory, itis believed that in the present invention surface telegraphing has beenavoided by a combination of two important processing steps: first, aconsistent application of fine grit sandpaper through the sander tominimize thickness variation of the composite wood material and maximizepre-lamination smoothness; and second a thorough cleaning after sandingof left-over dust, other process particulates and release agent that mayaffect bond formation between the composite wood material and theveneers. The inventors have taken an extra step of using air blowers inaddition to the installed sander equipment. The wood panel preparedaccording to the present invention is particularly useful for hardwoodfloors, and articles of furniture such as tables, table tops, bookcases, and cabinetry. After being prepared in the method describedabove, the wood panel will be so smooth as to have an RMS_(smoothness)(as defined below) of less than 25 micrometers.

Wood Veneer Component

The wood veneer component may be selected from a variety of naturalmaterials such as red oak, white oak, birch, maple, cherry, walnut,poplar, sweet gum, sycamore, tupelo, white gum, Carolina pine, ponderosapine, lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, white fir, spruce, hemlock, rosewood,teak and mahogany. The veneers may be produced by standard veneerproduction techniques such as rotary slicing, rift-cut, quarter slicing,half-round slicing, plain slicing, and lengthwise slicing. Preferably,the thickness of the veneer slice is between about 1/64″ inch to about¼″, more preferably between 1/42″ inch and 1/16″ inch. Suitable veneermaterials are available from Clarke Veneers, Jackson Miss., as well asother distributors in North America through the HPVA (Hardwood Plywoodand Veneer Association), Reston, Va. The thinness of the veneer variessomewhat with the material from which the veneer is constructed. For amaterial such as oak, the veneer must be at least 1/64″, while forcherry the veneer could be as thin as 1/128″. The veneer must besufficiently thick that it can be sanded without damaging it, and alsosufficiently thick that it is not necessary to attach a paper or othersupporting backer to it to give it structural integrity.

The veneer component may be treated with a protective, polymericcoating, with the coating cured by a technique selected from the groupcomprising UV-curing, RF curing, and E-band curing. The material mayalso be allowed to air dry. Suitable coatings include the UVN-700coatings available from Valspar Corp., and the ZVOC Product lineavailable from UV Corporation.

Wood Composite Component

Preferably, the wood composite component is made from OSB material. Theoriented strand board is derived from a starting material that isnaturally occurring hard or soft woods, singularly or mixed, whethersuch wood is dry (having a moisture content of between 2 wt % and 12 wt%) or green (having a moisture content of between 30 wt % and 200 wt %).Typically, the raw wood starting materials, either virgin or reclaimed,are cut into strands, wafers or flakes of desired size and shape, whichare well known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

After the strands are cut they are dried in an oven and then coated witha special formulation of one or more polymeric thermosetting binderresins, waxes and other additives. The binder resin and the othervarious additives that are applied to the wood materials are referred toherein as a coating, even though the binder and additives may be in theform of small particles, such as atomized particles or solid particles,which do not form a continuous coating upon the wood material.Conventionally, the binder, wax and any other additives are applied tothe wood materials by one or more spraying, blending or mixingtechniques, a preferred technique is to spray the wax, resin and otheradditives upon the wood strands as the strands are tumbled in a drumblender.

After being coated and treated with the desired coating and treatmentchemicals, these coated strands are used to form a multi-layered mat,preferably a three layered mat. This layering may be done in thefollowing fashion. The coated flakes are spread on a conveyor belt toprovide a first ply or layer having flakes oriented substantially inline, or parallel, to the conveyor belt, then a second ply is depositedon the first ply, with the flakes of the second ply orientedsubstantially perpendicular to the conveyor belt. Finally, a third plyhaving flakes oriented substantially in line with the conveyor belt,similar to the first ply, is deposited on the second ply such that pliesbuilt-up in this manner have flakes oriented generally perpendicular toa neighboring ply. Alternatively, but less preferably, all plies canhave strands oriented in random directions. The multiple plies or layerscan be deposited using generally known multi-pass techniques and strandorienter equipment. In the case of a three ply or three layered mat, thefirst and third plys are surface layers, while the second ply is a corelayer. The surface layers each have an exterior face.

The above example may also be done in different relative directions, sothat the first ply has flakes oriented substantially perpendicular toconveyor belt, then a second ply is deposited on the first ply, with theflakes of the second ply oriented substantially parallel to the conveyorbelt. Finally, a third ply having flakes oriented substantiallyperpendicular with the conveyor belt, similar to the first ply, isdeposited on the second ply.

Various polymeric resins, preferably thermosetting resins, may beemployed as binders for the wood flakes or strands. Suitable polymericbinders include isocyanate resin, urea-formaldehyde, polyvinyl acetate(“PVA”), phenol formaldehyde, melamine formaldehyde, melamine ureaformaldehyde (“MUF”) and the co-polymers thereof. Isocyanates are thepreferred binders, and preferably the isocyanates are selected from thediphenylmethane-p,p′-diisocyanate group of polymers, which haveNCO-functional groups that can react with other organic groups to formpolymer groups such as polyurea, —NCON—, and polyurethane, —NCOON—; abinder with about 50 wt % 4,4-diphenyl-methane diisocyanate (“MDI”) orin a mixture with other isocyanate oligomers (“pMDI”) is preferred. Asuitable commercial pMDI product is Rubinate 1840 available fromHuntsman, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mondur 541 available from BayerCorporation, North America, of Pittsburgh, Pa. Suitable commercial MUFbinders are the LS 2358 and LS 2250 products from the Dynea corporation.

The binder concentration is preferably in the range of about 3 wt % toabout 8 wt %. A wax additive is commonly employed to enhance theresistance of the OSB panels to moisture penetration. Preferred waxesare slack wax or an emulsion wax. The wax solids loading level ispreferably in the range of about 0.1 wt % to about 3.0 wt % (based onthe weight of the wood).

It is preferable that the surface layers in the present invention makeuse of the following enhanced resin composition. This resin compositioninvolves the simultaneous application of an isocyanate resin and apowdered aromatic phenol-aldehyde thermoset material in the same blenderin the preparation of the surface layers of the OSB. The powderedaromatic aldehyde thermoset effectively replaces a fraction of the MDIresin that otherwise would be needed. Preferably, a powderedphenol-formaldehyde is used that penetrates very well inside curledflakes of the surface layer(s) of the OSB. It also enhances resindistribution inside the curled flakes in the surface layer of OSB toimprove the board product quality by reducing curled flake failureswithout increasing resin costs. The MDI binder ingredient renders theOSB structurally strong and durable and generally improves the waterresistance, while the phenol-formaldehyde ingredient prevents flakepopping and improves strength of the OSB among other things. The resinbinder system used for one or both the OSB surface layers, as initiallyreacted, preferably is non-aqueous and contains no water or, at most,only nominal impurity levels (viz., less than 1 wt. % and preferablyless than 0.5 wt. % water based on the total weight of the bindersystem). This resin composition and its methods for use are described ingreater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,479,127.

After the multi-layered mats are formed according to the processdiscussed above, they are compressed under a hot press machine thatfuses and binds together the wood materials, binder, and other additivesto form consolidated OSB panels of various thickness and sizes. The hightemperature also acts to cure the binder material. Preferably, thepanels of the invention are pressed for 2-15 minutes at a temperature ofabout 175° C. to about 240° C. The resulting composite panels will havea density in the range of about 35 lbs/ft³ to about 48 lbs/ft³ (asmeasured by ASTM standard D1037-98). The density ranges from 40 lbs/ft³to 48 lbs/ft³ for southern pine, and 35 lbs lbs/ft³ to 42 lbs/ft³ forAspen. The thickness of the OSB panels will be from about 0.6 cm (about¼″) to about 5 cm (about 2″), such as about 1.25 cm to about 6 cm, suchas about 2.8 cm to about 3.8 cm.

An important part of the present invention is that the exterior faces ofthe upper and lower surfaces are thoroughly sanded before the veneercomponents are attached to the upper and lower surfaces. Preferably thisis done with a 120 grit or 60 grit sand paper. A minimum of 1/64″ shouldbe sanded from each side for a minimum total of 1/32″. Suitable sandersare available from Timesavers, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

After the sanding is completing the sanded surface are thoroughlycleaned to remove left-over dust, process particulates and releaseagents that may affect bond formation between the wood compositematerial and the veneers. Particularly important is the use of blowersto remove the dust and particulates from the surface of the board, suchblowers can be built into the sanding equipment.

Alternatively, other equipment that can be used for removingparticulates includes an air knife or brush, which applies a uniformflow of air across the surface of the board to remove particles ordebris. Suitable air knives include the “Standard Air Knife™”, and the“Super Air Knife™” from the Exair Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio. Air maybe supplied either to the blowers mounted on the sanding equipment or tothe air knife or air brush from an air compressor. Other methods forremoving particulates, such as vacuums, are also acceptable.

Next, the engineered wood component (e.g., the OSB panel preparedaccording to the aforementioned procedure) and the veneer component areattached to each other to form a composite piece. Such attachment occurssuch as by adhesively bonding the veneer component to the exterior facesof the surface layers, such as by lamination. Common wood adhesives,such as polyvinyl acetate, urea formaldehyde, MDI are applied to each ofthe components and the components brought into contact with each otherto form an adhesive bond. The adhesives are applied at a concentrationof about 6 g/ft² to about 20 g/ft², preferably about 10 g/ft² to about15 g/ft². The components are brought into contact with each other usinga typical 4′×8′ hot-press and held together for a period of about 1minute to about 10 minutes, preferably about 2 minutes to about 5minutes to establish a good adhesive bond. The press pressure wasmaintained of about 75 psi to about 200 psi, preferably about 120 psi toabout 150 psi, and the press temperature was held at about 150° F. toabout 300° F., preferably about 175° F. to about 225° F.

The orientation of the attached wood veneer component relative to thewood composite component is important. The veneer component may beattached so that the grain direction of the veneer component issubstantially parallel or substantially perpendicular to the strands onthe exterior faces of the wood composite component. The preference forthe orientation of the grain direction of veneer with respect to thestrands in the surface layer of the OSB is determined by its end use.While it is preferred that the strands be oriented within a layer toprovide stiffness and strength, it is understood by those skilled in theart that the strands can also be random, and the veneer grain directionwould be oriented in a desirable direction with respect to thedimensions of the panel.

The invention will now be described in more detail with respect to thefollowing, specific, non-limiting examples.

EXAMPLES

Several wood panels were made according to the present invention. All ofthese examples were made starting with an Advantech® OSB, available fromHuber Engineered Woods, Charlotte, N.C. The particular Advantech® OSBused was produced at Huber mills in White's Creek, Tenn. and Commerce,Ga. The Advantech® OSB was in the form of panels having dimensions of23/32 inch×4 feet×8 feet, but before testing the panels were cut down toa 4 feet by 4 feet size. Before having the veneer applied, the panelswere sanded using a sander having either 120 grit or 60 grit sand paperto a thickness of 11/16 inch. The particulate matter was cleared off theboard using blowers attached to the sanders and then further clearedwith an airwand with 75 psi pressure. The Veneers used selected werefrom Clarke Veneers and included red oak P/S Grade A ( 1/42 inchthickness), natural birch rotary #1 ( 1/36 inch thickness), red oakrotary #1 ( 1/36 inch thickness), natural birch P/S grade A ( 1/42 inchthickness).

The process parameters for adhesively bonding the veneer to the OSB wereas follows:

-   -   Press pressure: 150 PSI.    -   Press Temperature: 200° F.    -   Press Time: 3 minutes    -   Adhesive Concentration: 10 grams/ft²

The surface profile of the panels was measured to determine smoothnessand thus the degree to which the underlying OSB material “telegraphed”through the veneer. The smoother the surface profile, the lesstelegraphing and thus, the better board performance. The surface profilewas measured using a wood surface profiler.

The surface profile was measured by the following procedure. A MitutoyoSJ-201P (with a 0.75 inch sized detector) was used to make severalmeasurements, in which a first measurement was made, and defined as the“datum” for that panel, and then several subsequent measurements made,and compared to the datum, with a positive measurement indicating apeak, and a negative measurement indicating a valley. Thus, themeasurement system is capable of distinguishing not only the magnitudeof the deviations, but also the direction of the differences themselves.(This processed is then repeated thrice for each board).

From this data a smoothness value having units of micrometers,RMS_(smoothness), was calculated according to the following formula:${RMS}_{smoothness} = \sqrt{\left( {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{1}^{N}Y_{i}^{2}}} \right)}$Where:

-   -   N=is the number of test measurements per panel, with each panel        representing an independent set of experimental conditions;    -   Y_(i)=are the individual vertical distance measurements from the        horizontal datum initially set by the profiler, measured in        micrometers.

As described above, after manufacture the surface profile was measuredto obtain the RMS_(smoothness). The panels were then tested to determinetheir performance under high moisture conditions. This moisturecondition testing was conducted by exposing them to the followingschedule of temperature and humitidity conditions:

-   -   5 days at 90° F., 90% relative humidity; and then    -   5 days at 30° F., 20% relative humidity.

After these 10 days of moisture conditioning testing, the surfaceprofile was again measured to determine the “conditioned”RMS_(smoothness).

Along with the several aforementioned wood panels that were madeaccording to the present invention, the surface profile of severaladditional panels representing prior art, industry standardveneer-covered wood composite materials were also measured in order todetermine the RMS_(smoothness). The results for the wood panels madeaccording to the present invention, and the prior art wood panels wereas follows. TABLE I Wood Panels Prepared According to the presentinvention Veneer_(?) RMS_(smoothness) (μm) Sanding Thickness condi-vari- Grit material (inch) adhesive dry tioned ation 120 Birch 1/36 PVA22.41 24.58 2.17 120 Oak 1/36 PVA 10.94 11.92 0.98 60 Birch 1/36 PVA12.02 22.46 10.44 60 Oak 1/36 PVA 10.57 12.67 2.10 120 Birch 1/42 PVA23.31 26.37 3.06 120 Oak 1/42 PVA 13.18 15.50 2.32 60 Birch 1/42 PVA18.93 30.08 11.15 60 Oak 1/42 PVA 16.93 24.15 7.22 120 Birch 1/36 UF22.60 30.62 8.02 120 Oak 1/36 UF 10.74 13.43 2.69 60 Birch 1/36 UF 14.7625.39 10.63 60 Oak 1/36 UF 12.26 19.63 7.37 120 Birch 1/42 UF 12.5516.52 3.97 120 Oak 1/42 UF 17.98 18.95 0.97 60 Birch 1/42 UF 12.64 16.393.75 60 Oak 1/42 UF 12.27 17.96 5.69

The composite wood component for the samples in Table I was Advantech®OSB made in Commerce, Ga. The PVA was obtained from Ashland Chemicals,specification CM 408, while the UF was obtained from Dynea Resin,specification Prefere 4213. The veneers used were 1/42 inch red oak P/Sgrade A, 1/36 inch red oak rotary #1, 1/42″ natural birch P/S grade A,and 1/36 inch natural birch rotary #1. All the veneers used were fromClarke Veneers. TABLE II Wood Panels Prepared According to the presentinvention Veneer_(?) RMS_(smoothness) (μm) Sanding Thickness condi- Gritmaterial (inch) adhesive dry tioned variation 120 Birch 1/36 PVA 19.2426.87 7.63 120 Oak 1/36 PVA 11.47 11.92 0.45 60 Birch 1/36 PVA 25.5632.44 6.88 60 Oak 1/36 PVA 11.01 11.40 0.39 120 Birch 1/42 PVA 19.0020.06 1.06 120 Oak 1/42 PVA 11.00 14.80 3.80 60 Birch 1/42 PVA 14.0118.16 4.15 60 Oak 1/42 PVA 13.22 19.09 5.87 120 Birch 1/36 UF 19.5820.79 1.21 120 Oak 1/36 UF 11.58 17.32 5.74 60 Birch 1/36 UF 19.17 25.396.22 60 Oak 1/36 UF 11.94 14.08 2.14 120 Birch 1/42 UF 15.03 21.56 6.53120 Oak 1/42 UF 12.85 14.63 1.78 60 Birch 1/42 UF 11.88 12.76 0.88 60Oak 1/42 UF 21.00 27.14 6.14

The composite wood component for the samples in Table II was Advantech®OSB made in White's Creek, Tenn. The PVA was obtained from AshlandChemicals, specification CM 408, while the UF was obtained from DyneaResin, specification Prefere 4213. The veneers used were 1/42 inch redoak P/S grade A, 1/36 inch red oak rotary #1, 1/42″ natural birch P/Sgrade A, and 1/36 inch natural birch rotary #1. All the veneers usedwere from Clarke Veneers. TABLE III Industry Standard MaterialsRMS_(smoothness) Industry Standard Material Dry Conditioned VariationOAK Particle Board with 7.95 12.16 4.21 Oak veneer MDF with 17.41 18.881.47 Oak veneer Plywood with 27.72 28.91 1.19 Oak veneer BIRCH ParticleBoard with 11.97 15.98 4.01 Birch veneer MDF with 12.21 17.56 5.35 Birchveneer Plywood with 8.06 15.58 7.52 Birch veneer

Surprisingly and unexpectedly, visual telegraphing did not occur in someof the conditions. As can be seen by comparing Tables I-III, the woodpanels prepared according to the present invention performed very wellcompared to the industry standard materials. For example, the panelsmade according to the present invention with oak veneers and PVAadhesive had lower measured RMS_(smoothness) values after being exposedto the humidity conditioning test than all of the industry standardmaterials. Thus, the panels made according to the present invention withoak veneers and PVA performed better than the prior art industrystandard materials.

Similarly, the panels made according to the present invention with oakveneers and UF adhesive also did very well, as can be seen by comparingtheir RMS_(smoothness) values to those of the industry standardmaterials. Only the particle board with oak veneer industry standardmaterial performed better than the panels of the present inventionhaving oak veneers after the humidity conditioning test.

Panels made according to the present invention with birch veneers alsoperformed very well: consistently offering comparable performance to theprior art industry standard materials with birch veneer. However, incontrast to the prior art industry standard materials, the panels of thepresent invention can be easily made without time consuming and extraprocessing steps like the addition of extra material layers or theapplication of a resin or coating on top of the composite wood material,as is necessary in the prior art.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could bemade to the embodiments described above without departing from the broadinventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that thisinvention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but itis intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of thepresent invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A wood panel comprising: a composite wood component having upper andlower surface layers and a core layer; and a veneer component, having athickness of about 1/64″ to about ¼″, attached to the upper surfacelayer of the wood composite.
 2. The wood panel according to claim 1,comprising a second veneer component attached to the lower surface layerof the composite wood component.
 3. The wood panel according to claim 1,wherein the composite wood component is oriented strand board.
 4. Thewood panel according to claim 2, wherein an exterior face of the uppersurface layer and an exterior face of the lower surface layer have beensanded.
 5. The wood panel according to claim 4, wherein a resin isapplied to the exterior face of the upper surface layer and the exteriorface of the lower surface layer.
 6. The wood panel according to claim 5,wherein the resin is applied at a concentration of about 6 g/ft² toabout 20 g/ft².
 7. The wood panel according to claim 1, wherein theveneer is selected from the group comprising red oak, white oak, birch,maple, cherry, walnut, poplar, sweet gum, sycamore, tupelo, white gum,Carolina pine, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, white fir,spruce, hemlock, rosewood, teak and mahogany.
 8. The wood panelaccording to claim 1, wherein the veneer component is laminated to theupper surface layer of the composite wood component.
 9. The compositematerial piece of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower surface layersare each comprised of wood strands substantially oriented in a firstdirection, wherein the wood strands are bonded by curing of a bindermaterial contacting the wood strands where the binder material issubstantially free of water and comprised of a curable powdery aldehyderesin and a curable isocyanate resin; and a core layer located betweenand bonded to the first and second surface layers, where the core layercomprises wood strands substantially oriented in a second direction thatis different from the first direction.
 10. A process for preparing awood panel comprising the steps of: providing a composite woodcomponent, the wood component including an upper surface layer, theupper surface layer having an exterior face; providing a veneercomponent, having a thickness of about 1/64″ to about ¼″; sanding theexterior face of the upper surface layer; applying an adhesive resin tothe exterior face of the upper surface layer to form a resin appliedexterior face; and contacting the veneer component to the resin appliedexterior face to form a wood panel.
 11. The process for preparing a woodpanel according to claim 10, wherein the veneer component is contactedto the resin applied exterior face at a pressure of about 75 psi toabout 200 psi.
 12. The process for preparing a wood panel according toclaim 10, wherein the resin is applied at a concentration of about 6g/ft² to about 20 g/ft².
 13. The process for preparing a wood panelaccording to claim 10 wherein the veneer is selected from the groupcomprising red oak, white oak, birch, maple, cherry, walnut, poplar,sweet gum, sycamore, tupelo, white gum, Carolina pine, ponderosa pine,lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, white fir, spruce, hemlock, rosewood, teakand mahogany.
 14. The process for preparing a wood panel according toclaim 10, wherein the veneer component is contacted to the resin appliedexterior face at a temperature of about 150° F. to about 300° F.
 15. Theprocess for preparing a wood panel according to claim 10, wherein thecomposite wood component is oriented strand board.
 16. The process forpreparing a wood panel according to claim 10, wherein the contactingsteps lasts between about 1 minute to about 10 minutes.
 17. The woodpanel according to claim 1, wherein the veneer component is coated witha protective, polymeric coating, the coating cured by a techniqueselected from the group comprising UV-curing, RF curing, E-band curing,and air drying.
 18. An article of furniture comprising the wood panelaccording to claim
 1. 19. The wood panel according to claim 1, whereinthe RMS_(smoothness) has a value of less than 25 micrometers.
 20. A woodpanel comprising: a composite wood component having upper and lowersurface layers containing wood strands substantially oriented in a firstdirection, wherein the wood strands are bonded by curing of a bindermaterial contacting the wood strands where the binder material issubstantially free of water and comprised of a curable powdery aldehyderesin and a curable isocyanate resin; and a core layer located betweenand bonded to the first and second surface layers, where the core layercomprises wood strands substantially oriented in a second direction thatis different from the first direction; a veneer component attached tothe upper surface layer of the wood composite core; and a resin appliedto the exterior face of the upper surface layer and the exterior face ofthe lower surface layer at a concentration of about 6 g/ft² to about 20g/ft².